Factors influencing Chinese consumers’ purchase intention in live streaming commerce

Live streaming commerce has become a new trend of online shopping, prompting more and more Chinese retailers to embrace this novel channel for product sales. Compared to traditional online commerce, live streaming provides visibility, interactivity, and authenticity, which greatly improve the overall shopping experience and consumer engagement. However, despite the exponential growth of live streaming commerce, many streamers demonstrate low purchase intentions. Responding to the calls of earlier researchers, the main objective of this study was to examine the features that impact live streaming commerce purchase intention among millennial consumers in Mainland China. First, based on the socio-technical theory, streamers’ attributes (expertise, physical attractiveness, and interaction orientation) and technical attributes (media richness and personalisation) were suggested as the social and technical factors encouraging purchase intention in live streaming commerce. Second, the Stimulus- Organism-Response (S-O-R) Model was applied to explain the mediating role of swift guanxi. Third, the study examined the moderating role of perceived effectiveness of e-commerce institutional mechanisms (PEEIM). Data was collected using quota sampling, and the target respondents were Chinese millennials (born between 1981 and 1996) who had shopping experience on live streaming commerce platforms in the past three months. An online questionnaire was distributed to the target respondents via Wenjuanxing. In total, 446 responses were analysed using Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM). Three notable findings were identified in this study: (1) purchase intention was influenced by streamer attributes (expertise, interaction orientation) and technical attributes (personalisation); (2) swift guanxi mediated the influences of expertise, physical attractiveness, interaction orientation, and media richness on purchase intention, indicating the indispensable role of swift guanxi; and (3) millennial consumers with a high PEEIM tended to exhibit higher purchase intention toward streamers who have swift guanxi than those with a lower PEEIM. Theoretically, this study contributes to the existing literature by: (1) expanding the application of the socio-technical theory to the context of live streaming commerce; (2) identifying the antecedents and outcomes of swift guanxi in live streaming commerce within the framework of the S-O-R model; and (3) uncovering the mediation process in which streamer attributes and technical attributes affect purchase intention via swift guanxi, based on the S-O-R model; and (4) adding value by exploring the boundary effects of the PEEIM on the relationship between swift guanxi and purchase intentions. Practically, this study suggests that practitioners should adopt the digital trend by utilising both the technical features of live streaming commerce and streamer attributes to improve interpersonal relationships with users, ultimately resulting in positive purchase intentions. Despite the study’s interesting findings, several limitations exist. This study focused on Gen Y; therefore, investigating factors influencing purchasing decisions across generations, such as Gen X and Gen Z, is recommended. Additionally, since the study concentrated on a specific country, future research should explore other cultural relational concepts. Researchers should also examine how media richness and purchase intention vary across product categories.